What has eight hairy legs, fangs measuring two centimetres, and can bite through a human fingernail?
Why, it's the largest ever funnel web spider sent in to the Australian Reptile Park.
The arachnid has been dubbed "Megaspider" and measures a massive eight centimetres leg to leg.
According to the park, the average size of a funnel web is 1cm to 5cm.
READ MORE: Swimmer's close encounter with nurse shark in 'waist-deep' water
The spider was sent to the park's anti-venom program by an anonymous donor.
Michael Tate, Education Officer of the Australian Reptile Park, said the donation was invaluable.
"Having Megaspider handed into the venom program is so amazing, in my 30-plus years at the Park, I have never seen a funnel web spider this big," he said.
"She is unusually large and if we can get the public to hand in more spiders like her, it will only result in more lives being saved.
"We are really keen to find out where she came from in hopes to find more massive spiders like her."
The Sydney funnel web spider is one of the most venomous spiders on earth with Australian Geographic estimating it's able to kill a human in 15 minutes.
Males of the species are believed responsible for 13 recorded deaths.
They're usually found within a 100-kilometre radius of Sydney.
The Australian Reptile Park is the only facility in Australia that milks the raw venom of funnel web spiders to make into anti-venom.
The program is estimated to save up to 300 lives per year.
Recent wet and humid weather has allowed insects like Megaspider and also snakes to thrive.
Last month a monster brown snake was removed from a Sydney backyard, prompting a snake catcher to issue a warning about an explosion in "fat, venomous" snakes.
from 9News https://ift.tt/30nkOdV
via IFTTT
0 Comments